Fires In The Sky
by Shadow6sic6
Summary: Originally a friend's idea gone 'written by me.' ShadowKnuckles encounter. You'll need to be a fangirl to understand this one.
1. Joined

Something Lauren (Sakebi) "egged" me to write. It's not that she told me to, but I stole her idea ^-^ Don't hate me Lauren ;.;  
  
You said yourself you start things and never finish .;;  
  
Well, anyway. Minding that this is a "stolen" idea, the rest consists of ideas by me. This will be a Shadow/Knuckles thing. When Shadow was alive, that is. Well.you'll get the idea. You just have to read and keep SA2's storyline in mind. Also, how similar Pumpkin Hill & Sky Rail were in level design.  
  
"I don't see this thing." Shadow murmured, peering the sky for the "fox boy's" plane. "I can't believe this!" He shouted to no one, in utter despair. "The mountains around here are blocking my view. I'll need to go around them."  
  
Jumping along various tips of the seemingly never ending mountaintops and grinding along oddly placed construction rails, all the while dodging and destroying random G.U.N. robots that had been following him for oh-so-long, he stopped for a moment and contemplated the incident.  
  
"Bah, what's with these useless creations hounding me like this?" He said, moving along and smashing more of them to bits one-by-one.  
  
After jumping from one final spring-jump and grinding two final rails impossibly suspended in the air, he finally caught a glimpse of a blue object traveling the sky. "Hmm, found you fool." He smirked.  
  
He needed to inform the Eggman of his discovery.  
  
"Doctor, I've spotted the plane. It seems to be heading for the desert as you expected." "Well done Shadow, head back to the ARK for now. I'll take care of this." Eggman retorted to the black hedgehog. "Understood," He said, lowering the radio. (Now we all know this conversation wasn't as so, but I didn't really like the way they phrased the SA2 version.)  
  
Shadow glared around, when he started his search it was high noon, but now the sun seemed to be descending into the horizon.  
  
"Hmm, going to need to find someplace to rest until later, going to the ARK can wait til' tomorrow." He thought to himself.  
  
Meanwhile, in another part of the same region, Knuckles sits against a church strangely located on mountain-top.  
  
".Well, that's all three." He uttered, laying out what he recovered of the Master Emerald. He'd only just collected three before he sensed that this place had emerald shards to be found.  
  
He chuckled to himself, finding it odd that any place the shards were located, only seemed to have three of said shards.  
  
He shut his eyes and leaned against the church-side again. Though a graveyard resided in the front, and ghosts gave him the creeps, he was all too exhausted from the days findings to complain.  
  
".Can't sleep long though..." He minded. ".That bat-girl will end up beating me to them." He grinned somewhat.  
  
The guardian couldn't let it happen. It was bad enough he let her sneak it off to the middle of the desert, and that he had to shatter it to prevent Eggman from stealing it, leading him to this whole ordeal, but letting the bat win would just anger him even more.  
  
While Knuckles slumbered, Shadow found his way to a strange place where pumpkin head-shaped plateaus and several mountains similar to the place he was at happened to be.  
  
He took a glimpse of the area in its whole, crouching on one of the peaks it consisted of.  
  
"No place suitable to.wait a minute," He said, noticing a small building on a mountain-top. "That looks like a residence of some sort." He nodded and hopped along the peaks, gliding along wall-sides and grinding train tracks that led to nothingness.  
  
"What could these tracks be for?" He inquired.  
  
His answer came in the form of a train appearing from nowhere chugging along the track.  
  
He winced and quickly jumped to the side, falling to a switching station below.  
  
He growled. "What's a train doing in the middle of nowhere?" He looked around and found himself stuck there. He found, however, that he could switch the track layout to move the train in different orders and got an idea. He switched the track layout just so the railing aimed toward the mountain that had his target and he ran toward it at full speed, jumped on, grinded, jumped again, landed on another rail higher up and grinded, then leapt off, and hopped onto a metal wall embedded into the cliff face, crouched as he touched the surface and hopped off almost instantly, then turned his body to meet the cliff face opposite the metal and kicked off of that, finding himself on a small opening that was several feet below the buildings clearing.  
  
He easily hopped up onto this area and breathed a sigh. "It's about time."  
  
He looked around, a handful of stones stuck out of mounds of earth in the ground, the building seemed to be a sort of religious structure, and he was in the midst of a place of the deceased. He took all of this in and smirked. "Humans certainly are strange."  
  
Shadow stepped among the dirt and the grainy stuff crunched under his feet.  
  
It was then that Knuckles found himself awake, but far from coherent.  
  
"What.what?" He stammered and groaned. "Who's there? Another ghost?" He shook himself awake and stood ready for an attack, as the ghosts around were easily defeated.  
  
Shadow stopped and heard a low voice calling from around the corner. "Odd.this place seemed deserted. Oh well." He shrugged and proceeded further.  
  
Knuckles asked again. "Come on, I don't have time for this." He said more aware now."  
  
Shadow finally answered, rounding the corner. "What are you going on abo- "He found himself cut off by a large gloved fist heading at him, and fast. "What the?" He shifted quickly, the thing heading past him but just barely.  
  
"Hey! What do you think you're doing?" He turned angrily on the assailant, wondering who could have possibly been here of all places. Knuckles then turned to look at the "enemy."  
  
He met eyes with what he would have thought was Sonic hiding in the shadows, but realized that this one was standing what was left of the daylight. This one had quills of sorts that turned up toward the ends, and were highlighted on the tops with a red, matching close to his color. Other than color and a few other factors, this looked like what could be Sonics twin in his mind.  
  
Shadow glared at the would-be attacker. This was a sort of echidna species, fully covered in red color and standing a slight bit taller than he, but this didn't concern Shadow those large gloved hands were what concerned him most. This being appeared an avid fighter, and would likely clobber him if he were to be careless.  
  
Shadow noticed he was still crouched; awaiting any further attacks, but figured once was enough for the echidna before him, despite its sour look. So Shadow stood fully now, nearing the echidnas height now and stepping toward him.  
  
Knuckles' eyes widened. "Hey, stop." Shadow did so. "Who are you and why are you here?" He snarled.  
  
"I could ask you the same thing." He said vaguely.  
  
Knuckles lowered his guard. The "twin" was right. Knuckles needed to up and leave now that he was awake, it would be getting dark though, so he kind of hesitated.  
  
"All you need to know is that I'm on a search right now and I cannot be bothered." He worded quickly.  
  
"Oh? A search.of what sorts?" He continued out of boredom.  
  
"Would you believe that I am the guardian of a large jewel with immense power?" He stated boldly.  
  
"With the situation I'm in, I'd believe that anything is possible, even for someone of your status." A small smile forming as he spoke.  
  
Knuckles growled again. "You know, you're pushing it.whoever you are."  
  
"Shadow," He said, looking at the echidna.  
  
"Oh, well, I don't quite like your attitude Shadow." He said, suddenly thinking of the cocky behavior Sonic also shared.  
  
"Oh? I don't think I'm enjoying yours either." He replied impatiently.  
  
Both of their demeanors were becoming an annoyance for one another and they locked eyes again.  
  
"Yeah? Well, why don't you just try and change that, huh?" He asked Shadow, raising his voice more and more.  
  
"I wouldn't waste my time on you." Shadow answered, still in his calm state.  
  
Not a word was spoken after his statement but it was then that Knuckles lost it and threw himself at Shadow, right fist first. Shadow was too busy acting cool to respond and caught it right in the stomach. He bent over the large spiked fist Knuckles drilled into him and coughed out, the air draining from him.  
  
Knuckles held him up and released him, letting him crumple to the ground. Shadow was on all fours catching his breath and Knuckles watched quietly. Shadow stood to his feet slowly and chuckled softly.  
  
"Not bad," He admitted. "You aren't as weak as I thought." He said, clearly lying.  
  
"Would you like to do it again?" He said, again agitated.  
  
"That won't be necessary," Shadow groaned, clutching his stomach. "Besides, I need to rest. It's been a long day and the sun seems to have set."  
  
It was true. The sun had fully set and darkness was now upon them.  
  
Knuckles sneered at this; he was going to leave much earlier. But now he had to change plans; and the twin was the root of his problem.  
  
"What, here?" Knuckles asked abruptly, noticing him lean against the wall of the building.  
  
"Well, that was the plan I had in mind." He explained.  
  
The echidna glared at him in the evening light. 'If I didn't know any better.' He thought. "Do you know Sonic?"  
  
"Who?" He looked up with his arms folded.  
  
"Sonic.Sonic the hedgehog. He's blue. Real cocky guy...uhh" He tried explaining Sonic, but there was no real 'one' way to describe him.  
  
"Oh.yes."Shadow stated a little plainly. "Yes, our paths crossed. He seemed a little excited to see me." He said chuckling quietly, remembering how the blue hedgehog had called him a 'fake' one. "I believe it had something to do with this." He began, pulling out the green chaos emerald he possessed.  
  
Knuckles stared a bit surprised. The emerald had a sort of radiance to it that made it easy to see in the dark so he didn't need to step any closer, but he did.  
  
"Hey, where did you." He started, but Shadow pulled it away, looking up to Knuckles with a grim face.  
  
"That's not important." Shadow had said.  
  
"Well, alright." After all, Knuckles' quest lay in the lines of search for the Master Emerald.  
  
Shadow nodded. "Well, I don't know what you are planning for this evening, but I need rest." He said, moving along to the large door leading into the church.  
  
"Wait!" Knuckles called to him.  
  
"Yes?" He said, not turning around.  
  
"That door doesn't open." Knuckles told him.  
  
"What?" Shadow turned to him now, "Are you sure?"  
  
"Don't you think I would have tried?" Knuckles stated.  
  
"Hmm." Shadow hummed to himself, looking to the door now.  
  
"Then what is this building for?" He asked Knuckles.  
  
"I'm not quite sure. But I know that." Knuckles was cut off mid-sentence by something. He didn't really hear or see it but he sensed it. "Look out!" He shouted jumping toward Shadow.  
  
The beam narrowly missed the two, and ended up blasting a nearby tree, splitting the wood quite viciously.  
  
"That was a close one." Knuckles started. "Are you." Shadow pushed him off.  
  
"Get off of me!" He shouted.  
  
"Hey, you nearly got hit by that thing and you're still like this?" He asked, getting angrier.  
  
Shadow looked to him. He was right. "I would have gotten hit." He thought to himself.  
  
What Shadow found himself doing next was one action short of getting hit again, as he reached up and gently grabbed Knuckles' arm. Knuckles still being over his form took his glance away from the beam's origin and he looked to the black hedgehog.  
  
"What?" Knuckles asked dryly.  
  
"Well, I. I just wanted to apologize. I didn't mean to act so." He started.  
  
"Idiotic?" Knuckles mused.  
  
"Precisely," Shadow breathed. "Oh."  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Would you mind getting off of me?"  
  
"Oh, yes," Knuckles grinned sheepishly, jumping up warily.  
  
"What do you suppose it was?" Knuckles asked, changing the subject rather quickly.  
  
"I think we may have to find out!" Shadow called to nothing in the general direction he guessed it would be.  
  
The two then both stood fully and looked along the mountainous region for any of G.U.N's or Eggman's machine that might have fired upon them.  
  
The search began.  
  
End Chapter one.  
  
Eh, I don't know.it might please the "yaoi" fangirls. 


	2. Seperated

Chapter 2.  
  
And so, Knuckles and Shadow did just that, searched.  
  
They began by warily searching around the cliff sides for any movement, but nay, nothing in sight.  
  
"Must be a sort of. sniper or something?" Shadow tried to guess.  
  
Knuckles sniffed at the air hoping that, since they were downwind, he could pick up a trail of. something. Alas.  
  
"I can't seem to detect anything," he said, frowning. "Neither can I," Shadow growled. "I suppose we'll have to look around." Knuckles grumbled, his exhaustion catching up to him. "Yes, well, let's shall." Shadow began, running to the cliff's edge, and jumping off.  
  
Shadow ran along, bounding about the cliffs slanted features, using them to his advantage, taking to each ledge with a form like that of a gymnast.  
  
Knuckles floated along, observing him in his grace, his mind oddly wandering back to the moment after he'd jumped onto Shadow, moving out of harm's way.  
  
"It was... warm," he thought, shyly.  
  
When Shadow told Knuckles to get off, he felt himself fluster on the outside, but on the inside, Knuckles wasn't all that his gruff appeal suggested. Inside, he felt like lingering for a bit...  
  
Maybe even.  
  
"No, he would never do something like that. would he?" He asked himself, desperately.  
  
Shadow continued to leap along, keeping his peripheral vision on full alert. He didn't want to get snuck up again. He had already been embarrassed by the red ant-eater once today. Not that he was embarrassed in the sense that he was underneath another. dare he say, male. but that, the way Knuckle hovered over him was a little uncomfortable, as Knuckles proved to be quite the heavy fellow.  
  
But still.  
  
Shadow gazed up at him and feigned disapproval. He then chuckled to himself.  
  
"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested. because that red fellow is one of the most interesting beings I've made a five-minute acquaintance with." He admitted, though no one heard him.  
  
No one of course, except Knuckles himself. He looked down, after one of his five keen senses had detected Shadow's statement, and looked back up with a scowl.  
  
"What's that supposed to mea. whoa!" He exclaimed, dropping out of his floating form. Shadow noted his drop in altitude and jump onto a pillar near him.  
  
"What's up?" He called. "I think I've found the assailant," he said, motioning forward.  
  
And he had. before them, a G.U.N.-type unit was floating ominously before them. This was one looked different from the one Shadow faced, and Knuckles had never really witnessed such a model at all.  
  
Shadow sneered and gnashed his teeth. "This is it? This is what we wasted our time looking for?"  
  
The G.U.N.' auto-response mechanism activated and a voice crackled through a haggard speaker that was attached: "Prepare to be destroyed, hedgehog."  
  
Shadow couldn't help but laugh. "HA! What a waste of parts!" he cried, clutching his sides, his dry and flat laughter causing Knuckles' brow to raise. But he smiled and chuckled lowly as well.  
  
Shadow sighed and stood up, sniffing a bit, then he straightened and looked serious again. "Alright, let's get this over with."  
  
Knuckles stood and observed silently, waiting to watch the first move.  
  
Shadow ran toward the edge of the cliff and leapt off, heading straight towards the machine, and he performed a somersault in mid-air, shooting forward at an incredible rate, and his body bashed into the metal surface, denting it heavily.  
  
Shadow bounced off, and rotated in mid-air, he then kicked his leg forward and shot his body at the Model again, bashing the same spot.  
  
Shadow repeated this several times and jumped onto the same platform Knuckles was on. He landed on one knee and kneeled down for a second, then stood and turned to look at his work.  
  
Sure enough, the machine smoked and created random malfunctioning sounds and began to tilt to one side, dropping slowly; then faster, faster, until.  
  
"Ka-boom," Shadow whispered, watching it explode into shrapnel and wires and fall into the abyss that lay below them.  
  
Shadow stood silently, a weak breeze drifting by and flowing through his quills, not really disturbing them, but shifting them all the same.  
  
From behind Shadow, there came a one-person applause. Knuckles clapped his hands together slowly. Shadow turned on his heel and looked to Knuckles, sneering coyly.  
  
"I'm impressed." Knuckles admitted, ceasing his claps. "Ah, I was just playing around, after all," Shadow replied, rubbing the back of his head, covering his show-off way of dealing with the recent "threat."  
  
Knuckles released a small chortle, "Ch... whatever you say." "So. good work?" He noted, chuckling nervously.  
  
Shadow hummed, "I suppose so."  
  
Knuckles sighed and snorted lowly, now wanting to tease him about it., "No, I really mean it." He mused, grinning.  
  
Shadow gave him a blank stare, "Ok, ok, easy. so it was nothing special, but you have to admit, it was all about the way I pulled it off," he ended in a half-stretch, half-pose, hinting at Knuckles' tease.  
  
Knuckles burst out in laughter and hunched over, lost in a fit of giggles.  
  
Shadows snorted now, and then gazed around, letting Knuckles relax from his fit.  
  
Knuckles stood after a brief moment and stared at him, "I guess I should thank you," he sighed.  
  
Shadow gave an awkward smile, "for what?"  
  
"I haven't laughed like that in some time. in fact; I don't think I ever have laughed really." he said, smirking.  
  
"Then. I guess. you're welcome." Shadow worded out, looking blankly at him.  
  
Knuckles grinned at him, and gave one final sigh, "you know. I think I like you, Shadow."  
  
Shadow gave a small laugh, "Well, thank you, Red."  
  
Knuckles looked at him, and remembered that he had never told him who he was, "Oh, I'm Knuckles, by the way."  
  
"Knuckles then," Shadow grinned.  
  
"Yes." Red said back.  
  
"So. I guess after all this work, I'm not really all that tired," Shadow said, giving a light yawn and crossing his arms.  
  
"Yeah, plus, I should be leaving anyway." Knuckles said, hesitantly.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
There was a moment of silence and the two looked from each other to the surroundings, and back to each other.  
  
"Hey, Shadow?"  
  
"Yeah?" Shadow said, tilting his head.  
  
Knuckles advanced on him and put his hand on Shadow's shoulder, and pressed his mouth to Shadow's holding it there for quite some time. Shadow blinked, and became wide-eyed, and dropped his arms, balling them into fists, then relaxing them, and shutting his eyes.  
  
Knuckles gave a small lick at Shadow's lips, and Shadow obeyed silently, inviting Knuckles' tongue in.  
  
They stood in the moment, Shadow giving off several small groans of either pleasure or disapproval, either way, Knuckles didn't care.  
  
Knuckles finally pulled away, leaving a very hot and red-faced Shadow.  
  
"I guess I'll see you around." Knuckles said, trying to force a laugh.  
  
"Yeah." was all Shadow said, giving a small grunt.  
  
Knuckles grinned one final time, and jumped off, floating along to an abandoned mine shaft full of water, where he was sensing more emeralds.  
  
Shadow watched him float off, and licked his gums, giving a small shudder.  
  
"Yeah." he echoed one final time, himself needing to get back to the ARK.  
  
He nodded and turned, kicking off and heading back the way he came.  
  
Finished. God damn, I feel dirty. 


End file.
